TikTok will make more information available to researchers

TikTok will soon make more information available that scientists can use for research into the platform. Vanessa Pappas, TikTok’s COO, says the information consists of “public and anonymized data”.

Daddy writes That the data will be made available to “a group of researchers who want to review TikTok’s content and trends or conduct tests.” They can, among other things, examine the moderation system, evaluate the content on TikTok and experiment with different types of content to see what is rejected by the system.

Later this year, researchers will have access to TikTok’s moderation tools. The independent researchers on TikTok’s advisory board will also have access to the app’s moderation tools and keyword list, which are confidential. The platform uses that list to flag content that is not allowed on the platform.

TikTok is facing increasing criticism worldwide. For example, there are concerns about the privacy of minors on the platform and the amount of data that the app collects.